Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/129

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ALEXANDER.
ALEXANDER.
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tions were used by Julius Caesar for his correction of the year. He was tutor to the emperor Nero. (Suidas, s. v. Ἀλέξανδρος Αἰγαῖος; Suet. Tib. 57.) Two treatises on the writings of Aristotle are attributed to him by some, but are assigned by others to Alexander Aphrodisiensis.

I. On the Meteorology of Aristotle, edited in Greek by F. Asulanus, Ven. 1527, in Latin by Alex. Piecolomini, 1540, fol. II. A commentary on the Metaphysics. The Greek has never been published, but there is a Latin version by Sepulveda, Rom. 1527. [B. J.]


ALEXANDER AEGUS. [ALEXANDER IV., KING OF MACEDONIA.]


ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), a son of AEMETUS, was one of the commanders of the Macedonian χαλκάστιδες in the army of Antigonus Doson during the battle of Sellasia against Cleomenes III. of Sparta, in B. C. 222. (Plb. 2.66.) [L. S.]


ALEXANDER AEMILIANUS. [Aemilianus, No. 3.]


ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), son of AEROTUS, a native of the Macedonian district called Lyncestis, whence he is usually called Alexander Lyncestes. Justin (11.1) makes the singular mistake of calling him a brother of Lyncestas, while in other passages (11.7, 12.14) he uses the correct expression. He was a contemporary of Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. He had two brothers, Heromenes and Arrhabaeus ; all three were known to have been accomplices in the murder of Philip, in B. C. 336. Alexander the Great on his accession put to death all those who had taken part in the murder, and Alexander the Lyncestian was the only one that was pardoned, because he was the first who did homage to Alexander the Great as his king. (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 1.25; Curtius, 7.1; Justin, 11.2.) But king Alexander not only pardoned him, but even made him his friend and raised him to high honours. He was first entrusted with the command of an army in Thrace, and afterwards received the command of the Thessalian horse. In this capacity he accompanied Alexander on his eastern expedition. In B. C. 334, when Alexander was staying at Phaselis, he was informed, that the Lyncestian was carrying on a secret correspondence with king Darius, and that a large sum of money was promised, for which he was to murder his sovereign. The bearer of the letters from Darius was taken by Parmenion and brought before Alexander, and the treachery was manifest. Yet Alexander, dreading to create any hostile feeling in Antipater, the regent of Macedonia, whose daughter was married to the Lyncestian, thought it advisable not to put him to death, and had him merely deposed from his office and kept in custody. In this manner he was dragged about for three years with the army in Asia, until in B. C. 330, when, Philotas having been put to death for a similar crime, the Macedonians demanded that Alexander the Lyncestian should likewise be tried and punished according to his desert. King Alexander gave way, and as the traitor was unable to exculpate himself, he was put to death at Prophthasia, in the country of the Drangae. (Curtius, l.c., and 8.1; Just. 12.14; Diod. 17.32, 80.) The object of this traitor was probably, with the aid of Persia, to gain possession of the throne of Macedonia, which previous to the reign of Amyntas II. had for a time belonged to his family. [L. S.]


ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), an AETOLIAN, who, in conjunction with Dorymachus, put himself in possession of the town of Aegeira in Achaia during the Social war, in B. C. 220. But the conduct of Alexander and his associates was so insolent and rapacious, that the inhabitants of the town rose to expel the small band of the Aetolians. In the ensuing contest Alexander was killed while fighting. (Plb. 4.57, 58.) [L. S.]


ALEXANDER AETO′LUS (Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Αἰτωλός), a Greek poet and grammarian, who lived in the reign of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus. He was the son of Satyrus and Stratocleia, and a native of Pleuron in Aetolia, but spent the greater part of his life at Alexandria, where he was reckoned one of the seven tragic poets who constituted the tragic pleiad. (Suid. s.v.; Eudoc. p. 62; Paus. ii. 22. §7; Schol. ad Hom. Il. xvi. 233.) He had an office in the library at Alexandria, and was commissioned by the king to make a collection of all the tragedies and satyric dramas that were extant. He spent some time, together with Antagoras and Aratus, at the court of Antigonus Gonatas. (Aratus, Phaenomena et Diosem. ii. pp. 431, 443, &c. 446, ed. Buhle.) Notwithstanding the distinction he enjoyed as a tragic poet, he appears to have had greater merit as a writer of epic poems, elegies, epigrams, and cynaedi. Among his epic poems, we possess the titles and some fragments of three pieces: the Fisherman (ἁλιεὺς, Athen. vii. p. 296), Kirka or Krika (Athen. vii. p. 283), which, however, is designated by Athenaeus as doubtful, and Helena. (Bekker, Anecd. p. 96.) Of his elegies, some beautiful fragments are still extant. (Athen, iv. p. 170, xi. p. 496, xv. p. 899; Strab. xii. p. 556, xiv. p. 681; Parthen. Erot. 4; Tzetz. ad. Lycophr. 266; Schol. and Eustath. ad Il. iii. 314.) His Cynaedi, or Ἰωνικὰ ποιήματα, are mentioned by Strabo (xiv. p. 648) and Athenaeus. (xiv. p. 620.) Some anapaestic verses in praise of Euripides are preserved in Gellius. (xv. 20.)

All the fragments of Alexander Aetolus are collected in "Alexandri Aetoli fragmenta coll. et ill. A. Capellmann," Bonn, 1829, 8vo.; comp. Welcker, Die Griech. Tragödien, p. 1263, &c.; Düntzer, Die Fragm. der Episch. Poesie der Griechen, von Alexand. dem Grossen, &c. p. 7, &c.

[L. S.]


ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), (ST.,) of ALEXANDRIA, succeeded as patriarch of that city St. Achillas, (as his predecessor, St. Peter, had predicted, Martyr. S. Petri, ap. Surium, vol. vi. p. 577,) A. D. 312. He, " the noble Champion of Apostolic Doctrine," (Theodt. Hist. Eccl. 1.2,) first laid bare the irreligion of Arius, and condemned him in his dispute with Alexander Baucalis. St. Alexander was at the Oecumenical Council of Nicaea, A. D. 325, with his deacon, St. Athanasius, and, scarcely five months after, died, April 17th, A. D. 326. St. Epiphanius (ad v. Hacres. 69.4) says he wrote some seventy circular epistles against Arius, and Socrates (H. E. 1.6), and Sozomen (H. E. 1.1), that he collected them into one volume. Two epistles remain; 1. to Alexander, bishop of Constantinople, written after the Council at Alexandria which condemned Arius, and before the other circular letters to the various bishops. (See Theodt. H. E. 1.4; Galland. Bibl. Pair. vol. iv. p. 441. ) 2. The Encyclic letter announcing Arius's deposition (Socr. H. E. 1.6, and Galland. l.c. p. 451), with the subscriptions from Gelasius Cyzicen. (Hist. Con. Nicaen. 2.3, ap. Mans. Concilia. vol. ii. p. 801.) There remains, too, The Deposition of